Captive
by whatanauthorsgottado
Summary: I've been captured by Team Aqua! What are they gonna do - and how are their plans going to progress now...? Twoshot. Blueorbshipping in the second chapter.
1. Chapter 1

I probably should have realized that standing around in one of the Aqua Admins' rooms was going to get me caught eventually, but I couldn't help myself. The picture on the dresser had caught my eye, so I had stared at it for a while in amazement. I couldn't believe that Archie - big, imposing Archie - had ever been a little boy like that, nor that he could grin that way. I'd seen him grin, but it was always sort of... hungry. He only grinned, I thought, when he got something he wanted.

He had been a cute kid. I tried to remember that as the man grinned that hungry grin down at me, but I couldn't. It was too weird... And I needed to focus on what was going on, not on wondering if he had been nicer when he was little.

"So we've got a sneak in the Base, do we? I thought you'd show up eventually, scamp, but I didn't think you'd let yourself get captured by a couple grunts."

"I didn't either."

He accepted my belt from a grunt and ran a finger along the Poké balls hanging from it. "Where did you catch her, anyway?" he asked vaguely.

"She was snooping around in Shelly's quarters."

He frowned. "How'd you get in there?"

"I walked. The warp panels weren't locked or anything, so..." I shrugged. Deciding that if I was already a prisoner, there wasn't much else they could possibly do, I said, "I saw that picture on her dresser, of you. You were kind of cute as a kid."

He stared at me for a second - almost stunned, I thought - then tossed my belt back to the grunt. "Take her to the brig." He walked away, tossing over his shoulder, "Hope you enjoy our hospitality, scamp. You'll be in there for a while."

The grunts brought me in the opposite direction from Archie and tossed me in a heap into a cell hewn out of the stone walls, with bars over the tiny window outside and thick steel bars serving as a fourth wall and door. A classic cage.

I pushed myself up into a seated position in time to watch the grunts slam the heavy metal door and lock it with an electronic panel on the wall next to the cell. The panel was too far to reach from the cell, especially for me, with my short arms, and I didn't know the code even if I could reach it. I was trapped, and for the moment, at least, there was no way out.

A sudden burst of panic welled up inside me, not for myself, but for my parents and Pokémon. If Mom didn't get a call from me soon, she would start to worry, even though she knew full well that I was nineteen and could take care of myself. And my Pokémon were mostly used to staying in their Poké balls for long periods of time, except... I'd brought Latias with me to face Team Aqua, 'cause the little red dragon was a tough and clever fighter, but I usually let her roam free when I didn't need her help, so she didn't spend much time in her Poké ball. I hoped she wasn't claustrophobic. Maybe I could get someone to let her out... but I didn't want them to know I had Latias. I had saved her from them, after all, so Latias was probably a bit of a sore spot.

"Wait!" I called before the grunts left. "What are you going to do with my Pokémon?"

"The boss is gonna keep hold of them," one of them, a rather unpleasant older man, replied with a nasty smile. "Dunno what he wants with 'em, but I guess we'll find out, eh?" He let out a horrible laugh, and I felt worry choke my throat. Do not cry in front of them, I told myself sternly.

"He won't hurt them," one of the other grunts, a younger woman, said sharply with a glare at the man who had spoken. "He just doesn't want them to go missing or get out and help you escape. The boss loves Pokémon. He won't hurt them." With that, the grunts filed out of the area, and the lights flickered out so the only light source was the computer on the wall across the room.

I sighed and surveyed my cell to try and take my mind off my worries. I wanted to believe that my Pokémon would be safe with Archie, but a little part of me kept whispering that the woman had been wrong and Archie was going to let the rest of the team do something terrible to them. I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts and examined my cell.

It looked pretty much like one of the ones from a movie or TV show: a steel-framed futon pushed up against one wall, with a thin mattress and blanket; a tiny window far above me a few feet below the ceiling, with heavy steel bars to stop an escape by wall-climbing - not that I could climb very well, having lived in Goldenrod City my whole life, and there wasn't anything to climb in the city - and a little tin toilet in the corner, with a curtain hung from a curved rod on the ceiling to pull around for a bit of privacy. It didn't look too bad, all in all. A couple of potted plants and a good sweeping, and it would look a bit like a Secret Base carved into a dark cliff. Maybe I could make a makeshift mop out of an extra blanket or something, if I could get ahold of one of those.

I shook my head. What was I doing, making plans to clean this place up as though it was my actual Secret Base? I was getting out of here as soon as I could figure out how to unlock the door.

I stood at the corner of my cell nearest the lock panel, pressing myself to the bars and stretching my arm desperately to get at the panel. I pressed so hard against the bars that I thought they would leave marks in my face, but I just couldn't reach the lock panel.

I moved back into the middle of the floor and scowled in thought. So the spaces in between the bars were too thin to put any part of myself but my arm through, but what if I could find a stick? My cell was bare, so an actual stick was out of the question, but maybe...

They had to feed me sometime. Maybe I could find a way to keep my cutlery hidden, then attach a bunch of spoons together to make a stick to press the buttons with. And if that didn't work... I'd have to think of something else, I guess.

I wondered how long I had been in the Aqua Base and realized that the grunts had taken my Pokénav Plus with most of the rest of my stuff. Brendan had taught me how to tell approximate time from the sun and stars while we were on our way back to Petalburg from Fallarbor, so I looked up out the window to see if I could see the sun - or even stars - but there was nothing, just blue. So it was still daytime, at least.

I stared at the walls and twiddled my thumbs for a while, wondering what I was going to do every day while I was in here. I hadn't been this still since before we left Johto, since I had started traveling the day after our arrival. How could I fill my days if I wasn't traveling and I didn't have my Pokémon with me?

I supposed I could sleep nights and probably most of the day, but there would still be at least a few hours that I would have to kill. I wondered if Team Aqua had a library or anything in their base, and, if so, if they would let me borrow anything. Probably not, but I decided it couldn't hurt to ask if the alternative was death by boredom.

I shrugged and unfolded the blanket on the bed. For right now, I could sleep. I laid down on the thin mattress, pulled the blanket up over my shoulders, and closed my eyes.

I woke up a few hours later when the door opened and the lights came on. I groaned and pulled the blanket up over my eyes to block out the bright fluorescent lights.

"Come on, little prisoner! Dinner time!" It was the unpleasant grunt from earlier. I heard a metallic scraping sound, then a plastic tray slid across the stone floor. "Come on, the cooks worked hard on this. Get up and eat it."

I pulled the blanket down and sat up. I waited a moment for the light to stop burning, then bent, picked up the tray, and set it down beside me on the bed.

The meal looked pretty good: what appeared to be a filet of breaded, fried fish, a couple of raw carrots and celery stalks, a little bun and a cup of Sitrus Berry juice. Much better than wilderness stew, though not as good as Mom's home cooking. Unfortunately, I realized, there was no cutlery on the tray. This meant I would have to eat with my hands... and it meant I had to come up with a new escape plan. Oh well. I could figure something out. I cleaned the plate within a few minutes.

The grunt motioned for the tray and I placed it in front of the door. He pulled a little slit at the bottom open, took the tray, and left, turning off the lights again.

I went back to the bed, sat down, and pulled the blanket over my shoulders, but I didn't go back to sleep again. A quick glance at the window told me it was about eleven at night, and I felt tired, but I was also rather disappointed.

I had to find a way out of here, but the cutlery plan wasn't going to work and I couldn't think of anything else. How could I possibly get out of the cell without the help of a Pokémon?

On that thought, why were they keeping me captive anyway? I didn't have any secrets or anything I could tell them, I didn't know their plan well enough to have anyone I told really believe me... What did they want? I added it to my mental list of things to ask whoever I saw next, besides that creepy grunt. I wasn't about to ask him anything.

I was about to go to sleep again when the lights turned back on and the door opened. I sat up to start asking my questions, but Shelly walked in and my mouth switched tracks.

"What are you doing here?"

She looked at me like I had said something totally idiotic, which admittedly I had. "I'm a Team Aqua admin. I work here."

"Oh. Right." I shook my head. "I meant here specifically, like in this area of the base."

"I just couldn't believe we had actually captured the interfering kid. You'd think it was Christmas, the way Archie was acting, strutting around all victorious. At least he's in a good mood. It's something."

"I guess he would be excited, yeah. What's he done with my Pokémon?"

"Your belt's in his quarters. I heard he tried letting one of your Pokémon out, but when your Mightyena realized you weren't there... He's been in his room with Matt since."

I smiled. "Good girl, Hunter."

Shelly rolled her eyes at me.

"So, um... Can I ask one more question?"

"Ask whatever you want. I might even answer it."

"Why am I in a prison cell?"

She was silent for a few minutes, as though deciding whether to say anything. "We need you out of the way," she said finally. "If we let you run around out there, you'll just get in our way and stop our plans again. So you're staying here for at least the next little while." She turned to go.

"Are you still-?"

She looked back at me over her shoulder. "I tried to tell him... I'm still trying. But he won't listen." She turned again. "See you later, kid." And she was gone.

Unable to do anything else, I went back to sleep. I woke again when the sky was just starting to get light, needing to pee, then fell asleep again. When I woke up for the second time, the sky was mostly light, and seemed like the sun was up, though I couldn't see it from my window. I supposed that it probably wasn't facing east or west, but I couldn't tell if I was looking north or south out of it.

A few minutes later, after I had cleaned my hair up as best I could without a comb or a mirror, a grunt walked in carrying a tray of what had to be breakfast. It wasn't the same grunt as last night, which was a relief, but he didn't speak as he pushed the tray through the slit in the door.

When I was done and he went to leave, I blurted out, "Is there any way for me to get something to read or do in here? Sleeping all day's kind of boring, you know..."

He looked at me for a minute, then replied, "I'll put in a request with one of the Admins," and left.

"All right, then."

I decided that maybe I should keep a count of my days in the prison cell on the walls or something - make my life even more like a movie - but I couldn't figure out how I could do it without a piece of chalk or stone or something, so that was out.

I thought through some possible plans for escape instead. Maybe I could try and get the door unlock code from one of the grunts... but I still couldn't reach the panel, so that wouldn't work. I could try and befriend a grunt and get them to let me out... but that wouldn't work if they kept switching out who brought my meals so I didn't see the same person more than once in a while. Or I could try and force someone to bring me my Pokémon, but I didn't have anything to threaten anyone with... and Archie was definitely way more intimidating than any teenage girl. So I was totally stuck.

A few hours or so spent watching the walls and twiddling my thumbs later, another new grunt came in with a tray of lunch. Included with the tray were a newspaper - the Lilycove Journal - and a stubby little pencil.

"Oh, good. I was getting tired of twiddling my thumbs." I finished my lunch and went to pick up the paper when the grunt spoke.

"Boss wants to see you first."

I stood up in confusion and he produced a pair of handcuffs. "Stand facing the wall, hands out behind your back."

I complied - anything to get out of the cell - and the grunt came in and put the handcuffs on me. They were snug around my wrists, but not tight enough to cut off my circulation, and the chain was long enough that I could hold my arms almost at my sides but no further forward.

The grunt took hold of my arm and led me through the base, past other grunts - some sneered at me, while others looked at me with pity or didn't look at me at all - and too many warp panels for me to keep good track of directions. I vaguely wondered how I had ever thought I could get through this base without getting hopelessly lost, then remembered that I hadn't seen this area before and figured I would have been able to manage.

We finally ended up in Archie's quarters after a long time of walking and warping. I could tell it was Archie's quarters because the man himself stood at a big metal desk, staring down at a blueprint or something. He looked up and grinned when we entered.

"Yo, scamp!" He looked at the grunt beside me, who had let go of my arm. "She wasn't any trouble, was she?"

The grunt shook his head. "Good. This shouldn't be any trouble, then. You can go wait in the hall. Me an' the little scamp here need to have a talk."

The grunt left. Archie gestured for me to come closer, but I only took a little step forward, out of both nervousness and defiance. I didn't want to get closer to my captor; I wanted to get away from him.

"Come on, I won't bite. That's Sharpedo's job." He grinned a little.

"Amazingly, that doesn't make me feel much better." Immediately, I felt like slapping my hands over my mouth. Stupid, stupid...

Archie didn't react to my stupid snark, though. He just came out from behind his desk and looked down at me, studying my face. Of course, I was so short - only coming up to about his mid-chest area - that he had to bend his neck pretty far down. I could only meet his eyes for a few seconds before I had to break contact. I switched to staring at an anchor pendant hung on a chain around his neck. It had a rainbow stone embedded in it that looked a lot like the Key Stone in my Mega Bracelet, which the grunts had taken from me. Can Archie... Can he really Mega Evolve his Pokémon, or was he bluffing...?

Before I had the chance to think on that, he nodded and took a step back so he could look at me on more equal footing. "Alright. Let me explain to you how this is gonna work. Yes, you're a prisoner here. No, it's not permanent. I just need you out of my way for awhile so I can finish my plans without interference. I've got your Pokémon. They're here, they're safe, and I'm not gonna hurt them. I might even let you see them occasions if you're good and don't cause too much trouble for my people. Far as I can see, you'll only be in here for about three or four months at most. Sound okay to you, scamp?" He let out a laugh, a big booming chuckle that matched his personality. "I hope so, 'cause it's not optional."

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out, so I dropped my eyes to my feet and nodded. Three months was a long time to be separated from my Pokémon... and my parents...

"Before you call that guy back in here," I blurted before he could do just that, "could I - is there a way I could call my parents? My mom - she worries about me, and I haven't talked to her since I left Fortree City a few weeks ago..." I cut off, my face heating up suddenly.

Archie laughed again. "How old are you, anyway? No teenager worries about their parents' approval."

I stared at the floor, certain my face was bright red. "It's not - I don't want her to approve, it doesn't matter if she knows what I'm doing all the time, but - I mean - I had a little brother, just two years younger - and we were just little - I was ten - and he was attacked by a wild Pokémon and - and - he -"

I felt a hand on my shoulder suddenly, and then I was looking at Archie's fractured face. I hadn't even realized I'd started crying. "Don't start blubbering on me, scamp," he said, but he was - not gentle, but not harsh, either. "I've got a phone. You can call your mom. Just one thing, though - I'm staying in the room, so I know you don't tell her about us or our plans or anything at all. I don't want her telling your dad and bringing the Hoenn League down on our heads - yeah, I know you're the Petalburg Leader's kid," he said in reply to my look of surprise. "It was all over the news when your dad brought the rest of his family over. Anyway, scamp, one word about Team Aqua and you're done. Got it?"

I nodded dumbly. Archie went over to his desk and picked up a phone from beside a stack of files. Like most everything else in the office, the phone was blue. _I wonder what his favourite colour is_? I thought sarcastically as he handed it to me.

I dialed my house quickly and held the phone to my ear, hoping that she would pick up despite the unknown number. I had only ever called her from a public phone in a Pokémon Center, which all showed up on caller ID displays as "Pokémon Center" with whatever town on it. She didn't often pick up calls from numbers she didn't recognize, for whatever reason, but I hoped that she would be desperate enough to hear from me that she would pick up.

The phone rang once, twice, three times, and I prayed that she would pick up. Halfway through the fourth ring, she did.

"Hello?"

"Mom," I whispered. "Hi, mom," I said, at a more normal volume.

"May? Is that you? Sweetheart, where are you?"

"I'm... I'm just outside of Lilycove. I borrowed an Ace Trainer's phone to call you."

"Why didn't you just call me from the Pokémon Center?"

"I wasn't in Lilycove very long, mom. I just sort of dashed through. There's no Gym or anything in Lilycove, so I just kept moving."

"You didn't even go into the Department Store?"

"I just checked out the Trainer's supply floor. I don't have a Secret Base or anything, and I don't go home often enough to really bother decorating my room. And TMs are too expensive."

"I wish you'd come home more often, sweetheart," Mom said. "I worry about you, you know."

"I know," I muttered, feeling tears prick at my eyes again. "I've gotta get going," I added, because Archie had rolled his eyes and was gesturing for me to hurry up. "I love you. I'll call you when I get a chance, okay?"

"Okay. Where are you going next, sweetie?"

"Mossdeep City is where the next Gym is, so I'm going there, but... I have to cross the sea, and it's a long way from here to there, you know, so... I might not get the chance to call you for a long time."

Mom was silent for a while, then she said, "Alright. Be careful out there, you hear me?"

"Of course, mom. I love you."

"I love you too, May. Good luck! I'll be cheering for you!" She hung up the phone and I mutely handed it beck to Archie.

"All right, scamp?" He said with a teasing grin, but I just shrugged. "Okay. Back to the cell, then. See you soon, scamp."

On my way back to the cell, my mind whirled around dizzyingly, but my main thought was gratitude. I wanted to thank Archie for not... acting like a normal villain, I guess... and letting me call my parents, and offering to let me see my Pokémon on occasion... Vaguely, I wondered why he had done these things when he could so easily have left me to sit in my cell with nothing to do but stare at the walls. I wondered if it had anything to do with my age, and wondered how young he thought I was, and what the rest of Team Aqua thought, actually.

So I sat in the cell staring at the crossword section of the newspaper with my mind on other things until dinner came, after which I decided to close the book on my second day of captivity and go to sleep. Maybe Archie's not-evil-villain behaviour would make sense after a good night's sleep.

It didn't, but sleep made it easier to take my mind off the way he had acted.

* * *

There was something nice, I decided, about a window that didn't face east or west, and that was not being stabbed in the eyes by the rising sun at dawn, or being unable to sleep because of the reflection of the sun or moon off the ocean - which, I assumed, was the only thing that would be visible outside my window, given the sound of waves and not people through my window. I did want to see the sunrise over the ocean - I'd heard that Lilycove City sees beautiful sunrises on the water and sunsets over the jungle - but I could live with not seeing them in exchange for decent sleep.

So, for the morning, rather than thinking of cons to my predicament, I thought of pros. One: fairly normal sleep cycle, or at least it could be normal as soon as I had more to do in the daytime than sleep. Two: regular meals that met a nutritional standard, versus wilderness stew or stereotypical prison slop. Three: a fairly definite time limit to my imprisonment. Four: shelter from wild Pokémon and the elements.

I couldn't think of anything else, so I scribbled these on a blank piece of the newspaper, carefully tore out the list, and tucked it under my blanket near my head. I'd add to it later if I thought of any other real bonuses to prison.

I looked out of the bars for a moment, wishing I could leave the cell if only for a moment. I hadn't pulled a prank on anyone in a very long time, but I really wanted to get out and put a bucket of water over a door for the next person who walked in or something. Though, from what I'd seen, the Aqua base didn't have any doors that opened like normal, just sliding ones, so that prank wouldn't work.

I found myself wondering what the Admins and Archie would say if I asked to booby trap the grunts' break room or something. Matt might laugh and maybe help, Shelley would probably say no in the open then help me plan good traps later, but Archie was a mystery. Probably no. Oh well. Maybe I could booby trap his quarters if I managed to escape and had some spare time.

I abandoned my pointless prank planning and picked up the newspaper. There weren't any comics, but the crossword was big and would take a lot of time, in all probability.

When the door opened, I didn't look up. Instead, I called, "What's a four-letter word that means strong and ends with an 'f'?"

"If it ends with an 'f' it can't be Matt, can it... How about 'buff'?" Shelly asked.

I glanced up with a grin. "That might work, thanks. Is that lunch?"

"Yes, it is. Enjoying the newspaper?"

"The crossword's tough. I'm only about halfway done, and I've been working on it for... Well, I don't know the time exactly, but a pretty long time." I scribbled 'buff' into its space, then took my lunch tray and started eating.

"The Journal always has good crosswords, but the Rustboro paper's almost as good."

"I wouldn't know. The Goldenrod paper just had little ones for kids on the comic pages, they were too easy."

"Johto girl, huh? Never seen the sea till you came to Hoenn, did you?"

"Olivine City's on the coast. I've seen the sea before, but Hoenn's oceans are so... calm and blue. The ocean in Johto is grey and choppy and... Well, it's not as nice as here."

Shelly grinned. "That's the ancient Pokémon's work. What kind of a powerful ancient Pokémon wants to live in a cold ocean?"

"People say that Lugia lives deep underwater near the Whirl Islands in Johto." I shrugged. "It doesn't seem to mind the cold."

"All water, when you get deep enough, is cold, but Hoenn's oceans are warm as far as an ordinary Pokémon can Dive."

I grinned teasingly. "So Hoenn's just weird, just like its people."

"You live here, don't you?" We shared a laugh, then I sighed.

"I don't get it. You guys are so... nice. Why are you so bent on waking up this ancient Pokémon and flooding the whole world? You know it'll just destroy everything."

Shelly sighed in return. "I know that, yes, and you do, but Archie won't listen to either of us. You because you're his enemy - or at least an opponent, 'cause he doesn't actually mind you that much - and me because... Well..." She grimaced. "When I told him what I had found out at the Weather Institute, he said I was trying to stop him so I could take over and steal all the glory." She rolled her eyes. "I'd tell him his sanity was slipping out with his brains, but that would just piss him off and not accomplish anything."

"So basically, unless we can do something to get his attention long enough to show him the facts, we and the whole world are screwed."

"That's pretty much it, kid."

"Well, fuck."

Shelly snorted. "Hey, watch your language," she teased. "It's not polite to swear."

"What makes you think I want to be polite?"

"The promise of books."

Immediately, I sat up straight in a reasonable parody of politeness. "I can totally be polite if books are on the line."

"Nerd."

"Every day of my life. Now, gimme!"

Shelly rolled her eyes. "I've been given permission to get you three books from the Lilycove Public Library. What do you want?"

"I don't know what they have, so... If they have anything on myths, or something like... Fairy tales?"

"Fairy tales? How old are you, anyway?"

"Nineteen, but fairy tales are cool," I said defensively.

"Keep telling yourself that," Shelly snorted. "Anything else?"

"A book of prison escape tactics?"

"Nope, nothing else, then. See you later, kid." She took my tray and left.

I went back to my crossword and finished it before dinner. I tried the Sudoku and word scramble puzzles, but I was terrible at Sudoku, so I gave that up quickly. I made slightly better progress on the scramble, but eventually I was left staring at the letters that were supposed to rearrange to make the solution.

Fortunately, a grunt came in with my dinner before my stare could burn a hole through the paper. When I was done, I handed my dinner tray back through the door, and the grunt handed me three books and left.

I looked over the books happily. All three were collections of myths and legends: one from Hoenn, one from Sinnoh, and one from Kalos. I opened the book of Hoenn legends and started reading.

There were two major myths in the book, in the form of epic poetry written by a man who identified himself as Eagus and claimed he had seen the legends described in each myth with his own eyes. I wasn't certain about that, but maybe he was right.

He seemed to know a lot about them, anyway. The first poem was 'The Song of Titans', about a pair of Pokémon, Kyogre and Groudon, who held power over the seas and land respectively. I wondered vaguely if the ancient Pokémon Team Aqua was looking for was maybe Kyogre, and I wondered I they knew the name of the Pokémon they were looking for or if they thought it was just a random ancient Pokémon.

I didn't get through much of the story before my cell went dark as the sun set - since Aqua apparently weren't fans of wasting electricity by leaving the lights on in the prisoner cells - but I got through some introduction before I had to stop, and what I learned was very interesting. The Pokémon of land and sea hated each other, and this hatred had major consequences for the people and Pokémon living on the planet - earthquakes, tsunamis, torrential downpours, droughts, forest fires, volcanoes, you name it, were common. At several points, the anger between the titans had broken into open combat... but I didn't get any farther than that.

I couldn't help comparing the situation to mine, though. Shelly and I both knew that Team Aqua's plans could lead to the destruction of Hoenn if they weren't stopped, just like the titans had destroyed a lot of stuff. I was suddenly reminded of the red-haired man I had met in Meteor Falls, after confronting Team Aqua about their theft of the Meteorite from Professor Cozmo. What was his name again? Maxie, I thought. Leader of Team Magma. Maybe if Team Aqua hadn't been blocking his progress, he would have been the one looking for the ancient Pokémon. Maybe Maxie and Archie were like the titans themselves. Maxie clearly hadn't liked the thought of Archie being ahead of him in anything, and Archie would probably feel the same way if Maxie beat him to anything.

Still wondering about the connections between the tale of the titans and Teams Aqua and Magma, I fell asleep.

It took me three days to read the Titans poem, it was so long, but it was really interesting and I didn't regret taking the time to read it... especially since there wasn't anything else I could have been doing.

The conflict between Kyogre and Groudon lasted for hundreds of years before the conflict finally reached its boiling point. The two titans clashed directly, in the caldera of an extinct volcano that had risen from the sea. The poem said that the battle raged for months, years, with no sign of stopping, until a young woman decided to do something. This woman, according to Eagus, was his wife, and she was amazing and had bonds with Pokémon that were powerful beyond all belief.

This woman climbed a tall mountain, one that had been there longer than Kyogre and Groudon, to find a way to end the fighting. At the top of the mountain, she found a great dragon Pokémon, coiled asleep in a deep cave. Bravely, she woke the great dragon, begging it for its help. Her begging awoke something in the dragon, and it began to glow and change form. I thought that sounded a bit like evolution, but apparently, when the dragon was finished quelling the titans' anger, it changed back to the way it had looked before the woman had woken it up, and took to the skies towards places unknown.

According to notes made by the person who had translated the poem, there had never been any more sightings - up close, at least, and nothing from afar that could be confirmed - of the Pokémon, and no mountain in the Hoenn region was tall enough to be the one Eagus had described. There was a shrine on a small mountain near Route 130 that had had great significance to an ancient group of people called the Draconids, but the translator didn't think that that could possibly be the right mountain, as it wasn't tall enough either.

I decided that the myth wasn't as close to my situation as I had initially thought. After all, if no one had ever seen this great dragon except for once, there was no way it could be called to help now... and besides, it might not even come out for only one of the ancient Pokémon. Assuming that the titans were real, and the same ancient Pokémon that Team Aqua was trying to wake up. And assuming that the dragon Pokémon existed. Probably not. Oh well.

I flipped to the second poem by Eagus, which was not as long. It was called 'The Song of Dragons', and it was about Latios and Latias. I got about a quarter of the way through it - up to a description of the two as "keepers of peace and defenders of heroes" or something like that - before the door opened and Matt came in, flanked by grunts and carrying a tray that looked tiny in his massive hands. "Heya, kid! Lunch time!"

"Hi, Matt. It's been a while."

"Yeah! We had that awesome battle at Mt. Pyre!" He let out a loud laugh. "That got my blood pumping! We should ask my bro if he'll let us battle sometime!"

I grinned. Matt's excitement was contagious. "That'd be great if he'd let us. We could always ask." I accepted my tray through the door slit and started eating. "So, any special reason you're here?"

"You're going to get to see your Pokémon after lunch. Archie's getting your Poké balls, and he'll be in in a few minutes." He pointed to my tray. "So you'd better eat fast, little sister."

I nodded and inhaled my lunch, excited and nervous. I wondered if I could maybe escape... but if both Archie and Matt, plus two grunts were here, not even all six of my team members were going to be able to overpower them. I'd just get them hurt, and probably lose my privileges to see them again. Once again, acting the good little Trainer seemed to be my best course of action. That was annoying.

Not two minutes after I finished my lunch and handed the tray back through the door to one of the grunts did Archie come in, carrying my belt of Poké balls in one hand.

"Hey, scamp," he said, coming over right in front of the bars to look at me and crossing his arms. "So I'm sure Matt's told you what's going on, but I'm gonna lay down some rules for ya."

"Okay, fine," I said, trying not to fidget. I really wanted to see my team.

Archie laughed. "Cool your heels, scampo. Alright. I'm gonna open your door, and you'll have free run of this room. Me and Matt'll be standing by the door. You can let out one of your Pokémon. Just one. But ya get an hour with 'em. Try to attack any of us, though, and you won't be able to see any of your crew for at least a month. Sound good to you, scamp?"

I froze. I could only see one of my Pokémon? But that wasn't fair - I hadn't seen any of them in over a week! I wasn't exactly worried about their physical well-being - none of them had been injured when we were captured, and even if they had, the Poké balls would mean that their injuries wouldn't get any worse - but I was sure that they were worried about me, and I didn't want to leave them cooped up in their Poké balls longer than I had to.

"Only one? Why?" Much to my chagrin, my voice sounded dangerously close to whining.

"Doesn't make sense to let you have more than that out at once. Your Pokémon are strong, and you're a good battler, scamp - consider it a compliment." He paused a moment, waiting to see if I had any more complaints, but I just nodded. He reached over and tapped in a code into the keypad on the wall, and my cell door slid open. He held my belt out, and I considered my six Poké balls for a moment before reaching out and taking Latias' ball.

Of all my Pokémon, I was most worried about how Latias was doing. She wasn't used to the ball, so the loss of her freedom must have been hitting her harder than the rest of my team. And while I wasn't totally comfortable with letting Team Aqua know I had her - considering I had stopped Matt from capturing her at Southern Island barely a month ago - I reasoned that making sure she was alright trumped keeping her a secret. They would have known I had her on my team if I hadn't been captured, anyway.

I pressed the button on the center of the ball to resize it back to normal, then tapped it again to release Latias. "Come out, Latias!"

She materialized in front of me with a loud trill, immediately butting her head into my chin. I stumbled back a half-step, then threw my arms around her and pressed my forehead to hers.

"So that's what happened to Latias after you got beat," I heard Archie remark to Matt. "You never told me she captured it, though."

"I didn't capture her," I protested. "Latias wanted to join me, so she's with me now."

Archie studied me carefully, and I was suddenly made aware that the Aqua leader was not a dumb pirate. I had always known at least vaguely that he couldn't be stupid - since I met him at Slateport City, at least - but now I was reminded that he had to be clever, if only to avoid anyone's attention thus far. I couldn't read his expression, but he looked like he was deciding I wasn't just some kid.

The moment was broken when he shrugged and moved toward the door. "Whatever. You've got an hour, scamp, so enjoy it."

I nodded and ignored him, pressing my face into the smooth down on Latias' neck, near her ear. "Are you okay? I didn't want you to be cooped up in your Poké ball so long... I didn't think this would happen... I'm so sorry."

" _It's not your fault we've been here,_ " she said. One bonus of having a Psychic Pokémon was their telepathic abilities, which few lacked. Latias could speak with me and with the rest of my Pokémon, meaning that she could translate for them so I could understand them. I also had a Metagross, won as a Beldum in a contest from the Goldenrod Radio station when I was very young, that could do so.

" _You were captured. You didn't want to leave us in our Poké balls, so it wasn't your fault. We're fine._ "

"Can you hear any of the others? Tell them I'm here."

Latias was quiet for a moment. "Hunter is glad to hear from you. She hopes you're happy that she bit the Aqua man in the arm before he could stop her."

I laughed, glancing over at Archie. One of his upper arms seemed bulkier than the other, and I could see white through a few little punctures in his wet suit. He caught my look and I grinned.

"What?"

"I heard Hunter got a piece of you."

"Is that what you call your Mightyena? She's well-trained. Woulda taken a big chunk outta me if I'd let her, I bet." He chuckled. "You're not a bad Trainer, scamp. Not a smart one, and not as good as me, of course, but not bad."

I stuck out my tongue at him and went back to my conversation with Latias. "Did anyone else say anything?"

" _Jace is glad to hear you're safe. He wants me to tell you that you're careless and reckless, and you should have let one of us out at the first sign of trouble._ "

"Love him, too." My starter Pokémon, received from Professor Birch at the start of my journey, had started to take himself way too seriously since he had evolved into Blaziken, in my opinion.

" _Metagross agrees with Jace, and adds that you should be very cautious around Aqua members, now that you're imprisoned. They don't want you getting hurt either. And Rain wants to get out and play soon._ "

I smiled at the thought of the newest member of my regular team. I had received the little Castform as a thank-you from the people at the Weather Institute for saving them from Team Aqua, and she had become a useful support battler and a good friend. She was young, though, and not very interested in battling - she just liked having fun.

"How about Lucius?" Lucius was my Pelipper, whose graceful name belied his clumsiness and awkwardness.

Latias was quiet for a moment, then let out a trill that sounded like a giggle. " _He's asleep_!"

Of course. There was nothing that bird liked better than a nap.

I sighed and rested my head against Latias'. "So what can we possibly do?" I wasn't just talking about the visit, of course. Latias let out a quiet, sad cry.

" _There's not much we can do, at least right now_."

"Thought not."

Latias giggled and bumped my legs with her back. " _We can have fun, at least! I'm here, you're here, and we're all okay_!" She bumped my legs again and I swung one leg over her back, like I had with Latios those few weeks ago to go to Southern Island. Latias trilled and lifted off.

The ceiling wasn't very high, so we couldn't go too far up, but Latias could float at least a little out of Archie's reach - not Matt's, but I doubted anything was out of the behemoth's reach - which was nice. We skimmed over his head and he ducked reflexively. I laughed.

"Very funny, scampo."

"I thought so."

I considered the possibility that I could probably snatch my Poké balls from him and let my whole team out from above his head, but there was no point in pissing him off if I couldn't escape anyway. I sighed. I wanted to mess with them - especially Archie - but everything was still too new, and I didn't know the limits yet.

"I'm just a coward," I sighed into Latias' head, directing her into my cell. She didn't reply.

I looked out the little window and learned I had an ocean view. As far as I could see, there was just water. Directly below the window, there was a short rock face that the gentle waves washed against. On the edge of the horizon, I thought I saw a shape - maybe an island? - but it was too small to make out.

We looked through the other cell windows as well. My cell was right in the middle of five - all of which were empty - along a curved wall, so each of the cells had slightly different views. One of the cells faced almost directly east, according to Latias, and I could see a large island that I thought must be Mossdeep City through that window.

"Looking to switch up, scampo?" Archie said.

"Not unless I can move to a cell outside the base, no."

"We could just throw ya out the window," he offered with a chuckle.

"Humans can't survive living in the open ocean, though." I looked right into his eyes. "Your plan for the world sucks. Everyone will just drown if you let the sea take over the land."

"You're so set in your ways, scamp." He shook his head sadly. "It's too bad you can't see all the good we'll do. Returning the world to its natural state is good for everyone, people and Pokemon alike."

"Maybe it would be better if lived closer to nature, but what you're doing and your ideals don't match up." He opened his mouth to cut me off, but I kept going. "The super-ancient Pokemon won't listen to you! If you wake it up, it'll cause a massive storm. It'll kill people, Archie! Just ask Shelly! She went to the Weather Institute! The people there know this, she knows it, everyone but you knows that your plan is stupid!" I realized I was yelling and steaming mad, but I couldn't bring myself to stop. "If you don't stop now, everyone in Hoenn - maybe the world - people are going to die, and it'll be all your fault!"

He stared at me for a few minutes, watching as I breathed hard, trying to calm myself back down. Latias turned her head around to nuzzle my neck, trilling softly while she did so.

Suddenly I felt drained, exhausted, like I had run a marathon in a few minutes. For the first time since the day I had been captured, I really felt helpless.

Through my whole journey, I had been the hero - to the Devon man in Petalburg Woods, to Professor Cozmo at Meteor Falls, to the old couple at Mt Pyre. I had been looked at as someone who could help, someone who could stop Team Aqua's plot, and that had gone to my head. Now, as I recovered from my sudden rage and waited for Archie to respond to me, I realized that I had just been lucky all those times. I hadn't won against the grunt in Petalburg Woods and Rusturf Tunnel because I was amazing, just because he had messed up. I had only managed at Meteor Falls because of Brendan. The old couple gave me the Red Orb because I had been the first person to show up to help. Now, I had nothing, and I could do nothing. If Team Aqua wanted to destroy the world, no one would stop them, because no one knew about the threat they posed except me and maybe Steven and Brendan, and Steven would assume that I could manage them and Brendan would probably be too late to do anything. The realization hurt.

"I'm sorry you think that," Archie said seriously. "But you're wrong. The people at the Weather Institute are wrong, and Shelly is wrong. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I know what I'm talking about. I will be able to control the super-ancient Pokemon, and I will bring about a better world for everyone. You can count on it."

I didn't say anything, didn't even look at him. He sighed.

"Think what you want. It doesn't matter anyway," he said, finally. "Time's up."

I guided Latias to the ground, stepped off her back, and whispered thanks before returning her to her Poké ball. Archie took the ball back and out it back on my belt, before signaling to the grunts to put me back in my cell.

After the door was locked, he met my eyes one more time. "I want you to remember one thing. I'm not the bad guy."

He left, shutting the door and turning off the lights behind him. The cell blocks were silent. I sat on my bed and buried my head into my hands.

* * *

The next few months passed in a blur, each day dragging forever but the weeks flying by far too fast. Each day, I was brought food by one of six grunts, cycled seemingly at random to me. Once every two weeks, I got an hour with one of my Pokémon, and once or twice a week, I could request up to three books from the library, and Shelly would come and bring them to me and talk for a while. She would update me on how their plan was progressing, and then we would talk about whatever. I grew to think of Shelly as a good friend.

One week, I told her a bit about my childhood in Goldenrod, about how my dad worked in Whitney's Gym as a trainer and the de facto leader if Whitney was sick or had to go away on business, and how he was rarely at home as a result. I told her about my brother and the wild Pokémon attack, and she let me cry into her shoulder for a while. She was like a big sister to me.

Matt and I did wind up having that Pokemon battle, under the watchful eye of Shelly and with most of the Aqua grunts at the base watching in awe. I had Jace go up against Matt's Sharpedo and won, despite a nasty Aqua Jet right at the beginning. It was a High Jump Kick that won the battle, though, and I was really glad for Dark's weakness to Fighting types and Jace's good defenses.

I grew a bit closer to Matt as well, but his hero-worship of Archie meant that he didn't want to listen to me or Shelly about Archie's plan either. I admired his loyalty, at least; Matt was so dedicated to Archie that he wouldn't even listen to a word against the man.

I didn't see Archie again after my rant, which I was fine with. Talking to him only made me feel useless, locked in captivity and powerless to stop his plan.

I settled into a routine and got used to prison over the next few months, and even got used to being in prison.

Which was why I was so shocked to hear, one Wednesday morning, that all the testing and preparation was finished and the cavern where the ancient Pokémon was sleeping had been found, and that the final stage of Team Aqua's plan was going ahead.

Archie came in personally to let me know, flanked by an excited Matt and a tense Shelly.

"Guess what, scampo? The prep's all done. We're heading out to find that ancient Pokémon today! Our plans will finally be completed, and the world will go back to the way it's supposed to be - back to the beginning!" He grinned. "You might even be able to see the beginning of the new world with your own eyes, even from here."

I was floored. I had been expecting this to happen eventually... but now that the day was finally here, I couldn't say anything. The weight of my failure crushed down on my chest, making it hard to breathe.

Archie raised an eyebrow at my silence. "Guess you're not as excited as I am, scamp. Oh well." He shrugged, still grinning. "You'll see soon enough. It's a good thing, scamp. It's a good thing for everyone." He turned to leave, Matt and Shelly following. Shelly caught my eye, looking apologetic, before she followed him out and left me alone.

I was wound up all day. I didn't eat breakfast, lunch or dinner. I couldn't. My stomach was tied up in knots and I felt queasy, and I knew if I tried to eat it wouldn't be down there long.

I stared out the window, waiting for a sign, something, anything. All day, there was nothing. The sky was a clear, bright blue, the sun shone manically through the little hole in the wall, and the sea waves sloshed against the rocks below just like they always did.

I wanted to run. I wanted to slam the bars, rattle them until someone heard and came in - to yell at me or help me, I didn't care what. I wanted to pace a hole in the floor. I wanted to curl up on my bed and cry, I wanted to call my mom and warn her, I wanted to call the Pokémon League so they could stop Archie, I wanted to see my Pokémon.

I just sat on the floor and stared at the window, waiting.

I must have fallen asleep at some point, though I don't remember doing so, because the next thing I was aware of was a drop of something wet hitting my face. I started into a sitting position, disoriented for a moment, then looked up at the window again in sudden realization.

It was pitch-dark outside. The sky was totally invisible, covered in black thunderheads. A torrential downpour was in progress, raindrops the size of my eyeballs slamming into the rock walls of the base and the floor of my cell beside me. The sea below my windows was smashing and hissing against the rocks, sending waves splashing even up to the bottom of my window.

Out of nowhere, Matt's voice came from a speaker in the ceiling. "Everyone, we gotta get outta here! Archie's just called with orders. Units one, two and three are going to head to Rustboro City, Dewford Town and Petalburg City, and the two little inland ones, and help as many people as you can get out of there. Units four and five, head to Mauville and Fallarbor. Six, Fortree. Seven, Mossdeep. Eight and Nine are coming with me to Lilycove, and Ten, go to Pacifidlog Town. Bring as many people as you can carry to Mt. Chimney, Mt. Pyre, or one of the other mountains near Chimney, right to the peak or as high as you can get. Everyone got it? Fly careful, stay safe. Meet you at Mt. Chimney."

As he signed off, I wondered at how much worse the weather must be than it looked. It was pretty bad, from what I could see out my window, but it must be really awful if it made Matt scared.

I heard footsteps thundering past my door the next second and I tried to call out, but they either didn't hear me or weren't listening. Twice more, a large group ran past the prison, but neither of them stopped either. After that, the base was silent.

I curled on my bed, watching the rain pour in through my window and swirl down the drain in the middle of the floor. I was terrified that Team Aqua had forgotten about me in the commotion. I tried to keep myself calm by reminding myself that the base was safe, and I was under shelter, but I couldn't stop picturing the drain in my floor clogging and the rain flooding my cell. It didn't help much, as my brain kept reminding me that my cell door was still locked and I couldn't get out if the room did flood.

A little while after Matt's announcement, the door to the rest of the base started leaking. At first it was just a little bit of water that immediately swirled down the centre drain, but soon the seals around the door failed and the water turned into a little river, then a slightly bigger river.

I huddled tighter into myself and stared at the door. I was hungry, and tired, and wet from the rain that was still coming in through the window and that I wasn't totally able to avoid, and terrified for my life.

And then the door started to creak.

It was just a little creak, but on edge as I was, it might as well have bent and snapped in half. I fixed my eyes on the door, desperately praying that it wouldn't cave, that it would stand strong against the water than my brain unhelpfully imagined must be up to my waist out there.

It did for a long time, enough time for the clouds outside to start flashing lightning every few seconds. I counted the seconds between flashes and thunder until I couldn't tell which crash corresponded to which flash, and I stared at the floor. A fairly big puddle had formed and was running into the drain in the middle of the room, as the water was coming too fast to drain out through the little hole in my floor.

Then there was another creak from the door and it suddenly slid halfway open before stalling and screeching the way abused metal does.

The partial opening of the door was enough to let in a wave from the hallway. The water quickly flooded the room, bringing the water level up to my knees all over the room. I screamed as a wave sloshed over my bed and completely soaked me. I spat some out of my mouth, grimacing at the salty taste. How high was the sea level outside the base?

How high would the water rise before the rain stopped? When would the rain stop?

I stopped thinking and sat huddled on my bed, nervously watching the water level rise around me and hoping that I would make it through this storm alive.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The rain didn't get worse, exactly, but I did notice its effects more. First, it helped increase the water level in my cell, and the whole prison, quite quickly. Within what I guessed was an hour of the main door opening, the water level had risen from knee-deep to waist-deep on me, and I was now standing on my bed in a useless attempt to keep as dry as possible.

Outside, the roar of the rain and crash of thunder obliterated most sounds, but I could still hear the waves slamming up against the outside wall of the base. Judging by the sound and the way the water kept splashing in through the window, either the sea level had risen dramatically or the waves were insanely rough.

The clouds were still black and still totally covered the sun, but the lightning - which _had_ gotten worse, and closer, over the last hour - lit up the sky often and well enough that I could mostly see normally. Not that there was much to see, but at least there was light.

I didn't know how long it was later, but the water had risen almost to my knees over the bed and I was feeling almost tired enough to fall asleep standing up when I heard a faint noise outside. I instinctively looked up, then remembered that I couldn't see straight out my window anyway.

I still looked out anyway. A few minutes after I had heard the noise, something passed by my window. Whatever it was was skinny and bent over at the end like a person bowing...

 _Or a submarine periscope._

I started yelling for help out the window, but the thunder and water were so loud I could barely hear myself. Instead, I hopped down off my bed and dragged it to the wall by the window, hoping I could wave out of it and catch the sub pilot's attention. It took a little while, and a lot of effort, and a lot of spitting - the water was up nearly to my neck standing on the floor - but I managed to get the bed close enough for my plan to work.

The sub had passed by twice more already, but I stuck my arms out the window anyway. My chin just cleared the bottom windowsill, so I could see out, but I could only get part of my arms out the window.

"Help!" I yelled as loud as I could. "Help me! I'm stuck in here! HELP ME!"

The sub came back around slowly, the periscope turning back and forth, scanning the walls for something. A few feet past my window, it slowed to a stop, then the periscope disappeared.

"No!" I yelled. It couldn't just leave me here... Except it could. And it looked like it would.

Until a moment later when Archie's head appeared in the window. "Scamp!" he yelled, though I could barely hear him over the storm. "What are ya doing there?!"

"I got left behind!"

He shook his head. "I'm gonna get you out of there! Get away from the window!"

I nodded and his head disappeared from the window. I hopped down from my bed into the water. There was a red flash and a nearly inaudible yell, and then Archie's Mightyena was clamping its powerful jaws on the thick bars over my window. It growled and pulled, but the bars didn't move. Archie yelled something else and it redoubled its efforts, chomping on the bars like they were prey.

Being familiar with a Mightyena's jaw power, I was not surprised when the bar it was chewing on snapped. The Mightyena spat out a piece of the bar back into the water, then tore out the broken pieces still anchored into the rock. When that was done, it moved on to the next one.

When the Mightyena stopped, its jaws were bloody, but three out of five bars had been ripped out of the window. I scrambled back up onto my bed and patted its snout - the only part of it I could reach - before it was recalled with a flash of red.

Archie's head reappeared in the window. "Can you get out that window?"

"Yeah!"

He reached in and I grabbed his forearms and scrambled up onto the window ledge. It was difficult to do, as my feet couldn't get purchase on the wall so I had to haul myself up with pure upper body strength, but Archie pulled as hard as he could and we managed. I wriggled out the window and dropped onto a rock beside Archie. I nearly slipped, but he held my arms in an iron grip until I balanced myself.

"We're going to head back to the sub," he yelled, gesturing into the water nearby. "Bruce will take us over."

I looked into the water below us and saw a Sharpedo that didn't look anything like any other Sharpedo I had seen.

First of all, it was huge. Its jaws were huge, and full of long, sharp-looking teeth. It had spikes sticking out on either side of its jaw, and its dorsal fin looked like it had had some chunks taken out of it in a long-ago battle, and the yellow 'x'-markings that were on the snouts of normal Sharpedo were all over this one's back.

I looked at Archie. He must have seen my nervousness - or fear - in my face because he lifted up his anchor pendant to show me something. "It's okay, scampo. You've met Bruce before. He's just Mega Evolved."

The stone set into Archie's anchor pendant was glowing softly, shining like a rainbow. Now that I had a closer look at it, I could see that it was definitely an active Key Stone, and I relaxed, knowing now that the mutant Sharpedo wouldn't attack me. I nodded to him and he let his pendant drop.

He leapt into the water, landing beside Bruce and climbing onto his back. He guided the Sharpedo closer so I could jump right onto its back, and I was about to join him when a sudden bolt of realization hit me like a Thunderbolt.

 _Where were my Pokémon?!_

"Where's my team?" I yelled.

"They're on the sub! Come on! We've gotta get out of this rain!"

I wanted to demand more answers - ask why he had bothered to bring them with him - but he was right. The longer we stayed out in the storm, the more risk we ran of getting hypothermia or pneumonia or any number of other unpleasant conditions. I leapt onto Bruce's snout in front of Archie and held on for dear life as he turned us around and sped off.

A few seconds - and soakings - later, we nearly ran into the side of the sub. Bruce stopped short beside the ladder onto the top, and Archie and I climbed off his back right onto the slick ladder. Archie recalled his Pokémon without cancelling the Mega Evolution. I looked at him curiously, but he just shook his head and climbed.

Up on top of the submarine, he pulled open a hatch and gestured inside. "Hop down, scamp. We're gettin' outta here."

I climbed down the ladder as fast as I was able. Archie followed, pulling the top hatch shut and enclosing us in darkness. I felt for each rung of the ladder, not wanting to fall down. Archie slid down the ladder instead of waiting for me. I felt him pass by, his chest brushing my back and his anchor landing on my head, which hurt. The pendant was big and heavy and hard.

At the bottom of the ladder, Archie opened up a door, letting light flood in. I moved a bit faster, now able to see the rungs, but Archie was gone by the time I made it to the bottom.

Through the door was the cockpit, which was small but not cramped, even with the two of us.

"It's designed for two people to pilot, when it's done properly," Archie said from his position in one of two chairs by the front controls, "but you can do it with one alright. Diving an' depth controls are over here, and moving controls are there." He indicated his console and the empty one respectively. "I'll teach ya how to use the depth controls later, so you can help crew this vessel."

"Okay, sounds good." I went to join him at the controls and watch him work, but he held up a hand to stop me.

"Later. Right now, I'm gonna bring us down so we don't get tossed in the waves too much, then you're gonna get dried off and I'll explain what happened."

"I'm fine, though."

He turned and frowned at me. "You're shivering, scamp. Go get your stuff, it's in the other room. Change outta that wet stuff, make sure your Pokemon are alright, then come back. Got it?"

Now that I had a moment to think about myself and not the water or possibility of drowning, I realized I was freezing. "Right."

The other room really was cramped. It contained two beds set into the wall, one on top of the other, and an open floor locker as tall as my waist with a divider in the middle. There was barely enough room between the beds and the wall to turn around. Two doors besides the one leading to the cockpit led to a small kitchen and an even smaller bathroom that reminded me of one that could be found in an airplane.

I looked into the floor locker. One side was apparently Archie's - it held a set of clothes that were not unlike an Aqua grunt's uniform, though nicer, and my belt with my bag still attached. The other side was Shelly's and contained a copy of her Aqua Admin uniform.

I pulled my belt out of the locker. Immediately, Jace's Poké ball shook and he leapt out in a fighting stance, which dropped as soon as he realized who I was. He engulfed me in a hug, pulling me close and warming me right up. As I relaxed in my trusted Pokémon's hold, he kept up a stream of chastising chirps and cries. I couldn't understand exactly what he was saying, but I got the gist of it.

"I know, I'm an idiot, Latias told me." He nodded. "I should have brought one of you out at the first sign of trouble." Another nod. "And I should have let you out in the prison, so you could kick Archie's ass yourself." He let out a proud chirp at that, and I snorted. "Arrogant birdy. I'd like to see you go toe-to-toe with Matt."

He cocked his head and chirped again, considering. Then he shook his head and sighed.

"He's a bit too big for even you, huh."

From within my Blaziken's warm embrace, I reached to open my bag. I pulled out my spare T-shirt and sweatpants and started to change. They weren't the cleanest - my rush to stop Team Aqua's plan at their base meant that I hadn't stopped at the Pokémon Center for more time than it took to return my Linoone to the PC and heal the rest of my team, so I hadn't washed these clothes for almost a week - but I didn't think it really mattered. The sub smelled like salt water anyway, and I hadn't worn these clothes much.

When I was changed and my normal clothes were hung up on a hook in the bathroom to dry as much as possible, I returned to the cockpit. Jace refused to return to his Poké ball, so he walked beside me and stood behind me to my right when I stopped. Archie stood waiting for me in the cockpit, leaning against the back of the seat at the depth control console.

"You feelin' better?"

"Warmer, yeah. Having a Fire-type around helps with that."

"Yeah, guess it would." He nodded to Jace. "Bit protective, eh?"

"Yeah."

We were both silent for a while, the gravity of the situation suddenly weighing me down. I was now essentially trapped on this submarine, still captive, though no longer Archie's prisoner. Regardless, I was stuck with him for the time being. The man who had started this situation. The man who had awoken the super-ancient Pokémon controlling the storm.

Archie was the one who broke the silence. "Look. Before we get started with this, you should know one thing. I'm sorry. Sorry about how this turned out, sorry that I didn't listen to you or Shelly, sorry... I'm just sorry. Right now, scamp, I'm just one man-sized pile of guilt and regret. So... yeah. Hate me if you want, I just wanted you to know that."

I nodded, and it was silent again. I didn't know what to say, and it didn't look like Archie wanted to start.

Suddenly, my stomach growled, filling the small space. Archie started, and he snapped out of his sudden mood.

"Well, in that case, maybe we should get something to eat first. Come on."

He led the way into the kitchen and pulled open a cabinet. "We got loads of canned stew and ration biscuits, but that's about it, so I hope you don't mind eatin' the same thing three times a day every day." He pulled out a package of biscuits and made a face. "Haven't eaten this badly since I was on a fishing trawler off the Kanto coast, and that was almost a decade ago." He put the package back and pulled out a microwaveable container of stew, took the lid off that, and put it in the microwave.

"You worked on a fishing boat?" I said suddenly. This wasn't the weirdest thing I'd heard out of his mouth, but somehow it was unbelievable that Archie had a life before Team Aqua and megalomania.

He cocked an eyebrow at me. "What, are we gonna play twenty questions?"

"Maybe we should." It would be easier than talking about the real issue, I didn't say.

He just stared for a while. "Yeah. Maybe we should." The microwave beeped, and he pulled out the stew, took a fork from a nearby drawer, and offered them to me. "It'll be hot. Let's go sit down and we'll play twenty questions."

We sat in the seats in the cockpit and turned to face each other. "You'll have to remind me how to play. It's been awhile since my last girly sleepover party," he said dryly, and I snorted.

"I don't really know. We just ask each other questions, I guess, and they can be about whatever, but you have to answer them."

"Alright, I'll ask first. Where're you from?"

"We moved from Johto... Goldenrod City specifically. Dad worked at Whitney's Gym when I was growing up, then he got moved to Olivine and we lived there for a few years. Then, when the position in Hoenn opened up, Whitney and Jasmine both recommended he take it. He took the job and moved, but my mom and I didn't wind up moving until almost a year later." I took a bite of stew, and when I got over the sensation of burning tongue, I asked, "You said you worked in Kanto. Did you come from there?"

"Nah, I was born and raised in Hoenn. Pacifidlog Town." At my blank stare, he elaborated. "Little community built on big rafts. It's down on Route 131. Not a lot of people live there, but it's a tight-knit community. Everyone shares everything... even stuff that's not meant to be shared." He grimaced.

I laughed. "Does that mean like, toothbrushes, or..."

"Worse."

I shuddered. "I don't think I want to know."

"I knew everythin' anyone needed to know about human bodies by eight."

I mimed puking. "I said I didn't want to know!"

He laughed, filling the small space with noise. Jace scowled - as much as one can with a beak, anyway - and I rolled my eyes at my Pokémon.

"I'm not in danger," I muttered. "Go back in the ball."

He glared at me, but let me return him anyway.

"He's not a bad bodyguard, that overgrown chicken of yours. Where'd you pick him up?"

"I got him as a Torchic. He helped me rescue Professor Birch from a wild Poochyena attack."

"Vicious, those things are."

I rolled my eyes. "For all that he loves fieldwork, the Professor is not very good at handling wild Pokémon attacks. He could probably have knocked it aside, no problem and no pain."

"Huh. Never met the guy, don't know him too well, so I'll take your word for it."

"So, um, what was your first Pokémon?"

He smiled, a look of joy and nostalgia that seemed to take years off his face. "My first Pokémon was a little runt of a Carvahna, no bigger than my head back then. I was out fishin' for dinner an' I saw the little guy getting beat on by a bunch of Tentacool, so I fought them off and rescued him. He wouldn't stop followin' me around after that, so I started calling him Bruce, and when I left home, he came with me."

"You're a softie."

He looked offended. "Rescuin' Bruce does not make me soft. Sharpedo are tough, dangerous creatures, an' it takes a firm hand to - why are you laughin'?"

"You're just a big Teddiursa. Seriously. Even your plan was like, 'Save the Pokémon'."

He rolled his eyes. "So bein' an environmentalist makes me a cute little bear Pokémon."

"Well, no, that's all you, actually."

"Right. My turn. What happened when you were a kid, with your brother?"

I sobered immediately. "Pass. I don't talk about that. Not to you, not to anyone."

"Right." He looked like he knew he had crossed a line. Good. He hadn't just crossed it, he had jumped over it. I let that incident slip in the Aqua base, but I wasn't going to talk about it now.

"Do you like Hoenn better than Johto?"

I snapped back into the present. "Uh, yeah, definitely. It's warmer, that's for sure. It's winter up in Johto... normally, it'd be snowing..."

And then it was my turn. And I knew what I wanted to - had to - ask.

"What happened?"

Archie was silent for a long time, gathering his thoughts. Then he began, in a quiet and heavy voice.

"Shelly and I left the base after we talked to you. We took the sub over to the site where Kyogre was sleeping... the Seafloor Cavern. A sealed cave that shouldn't have been opened. Shelly... tried to warn me one last time before I started the drill... told me I was making a mistake... but I still didn't listen.

"I broke through the barrier and almost ran to the cave where Kyogre was at, with the Blue Orb in hand. I was so excited. My plans were finally almost complete..."

He grimaced. "I got to where Kyogre was, woke it up... While it was still waking up, Maxie showed up and tried to stop me, but it was too late. He thought maybe if he took the Blue Orb, it would stop Kyogre waking up any more, but I made my Pokemon stop him. They didn't want to - didn't like Kyogre much - but I made 'em do it anyway.

"I succeeded. Maxie couldn't stop me, so Kyogre woke up. All the way. And the Blue Orb turned it into Primal Kyogre, just like we'd planned. Then it dove away, to the Cave of Origins... Then everything went to hell.

"Primal Kyogre was way more powerful than we had expected. Within hours - not even a day, just a couple hours - parts of the mainland had flooded and the seas were going crazy. I sent my people out to help evacuation, get everybody to high ground. Most of the country's up on Mt. Chimney now, or at least most of the people from the cities, or whoever we could reach.

"But I went to Sootopolis to confront Kyogre. Me an' Shelly. We got into the Cave of Origins, thanks to that Gym Leader, what's 'is name. We had diving suits prepared for something like this, in case we needed to get near Kyogre. They were supposed to protect us from anything - impact, heat, cold, whatever. So we went down into the cave to try and calm Kyogre - capture it or something, but it wasn't havin' any of that. It used some powerful attack on us - shot water balls that exploded like bombs. We got thrown all over the place. I was lucky enough to land near the stairs, so I ran, but when I got out of the cave - Shelly wasn't behind me. The door shut on me after I got out."

He'd given most of his story in a deadpan tone with little expression on his face, but this last part broke him. He buried his face in his hands, shaking, breathing ragged. A sudden feeling of empathy washed over me, and I wanted to comfort him, but I didn't know how. What could I say? So I just sat and watched him sob into his hands.

"She's dead," he whispered. "She died down there. I just left her - I ran away to save my own skin and left her behind. Even with the Aqua Suit - it had to give out at some point. She's dead because of me."

"I'm sorry," I whispered. Overcome, I reached out and laid my hand on his shoulder, trying to take some of his pain away.

He stiffened for a moment, then started to shake even harder. I scooted my chair closer and put my whole arm over his shoulder. I wondered what had happened to the rest of the people of Hoenn... Matt had mentioned when they were evacuating the Base that they were going to try and move as many people as possible to Mt. Chimney. I wondered if they had gotten everybody. I hoped my parents had made it safely to the mountain.

After a while, Archie stopped sobbing, and I pulled my arm away as he sat up. His eyes were red, but his expression was calm.

"Thanks."

"Yeah." It was a little awkward, so I blurted out, "It's May."

"What?"

"My name. It's May. I don't think I ever actually introduced myself to you."

"Oh. Yeah. I guess I've been calling you scamp ever since we met, eh?"

"Yeah." I chuckled a little, but it sounded hollow, bouncing off the walls of the little galley. "I didn't mind, really. Just thought you should know my actual name, if we're going to be working together for the next little while."

"Not a bad idea."

"So... Matt said when everyone was leaving that you were going to try and get everyone up to Mt. Chimney. Which towns did you manage to evacuate, and how many people are up there?"

Archie snapped straight into business mode. "We evacuated the major cities and most of the little towns. Some people had already started moving when the worst of the floods started. Thank Arceus Hoenn's a small region, cause most of the population can fit up on the mountains. We've got around three hundred on Mt. Chimney itself, another two hundred up on the other mountains in that range, and around fifty on Mt. Pyre."

"That's good. So, what are we going to be doing?"

"I'm going to bring you up to one of the mountains, then I'm going to try to stop Kyogre myself."

"No! You can't go alone."

"I have to go alone." He looked me straight in the eye, and I could see the pain and guilt there, overshadowing everything else. He looked tired, the shadows on his face deep. "I can't have anyone else dying for my stupidity. I've got to end this, and I have to do it alone."

"I won't let you go alone. If you die, it's not going to help anyone."

"May, there's nothing anyone can do to help!"

'Throwing away your life isn't going to help anything either, though! It's not going to bring Shelly back, or anyone else who's died! The best way to make up for your mistakes is to end this, not to kill yourself!"

His eyes narrowed in anger. "We're all dead anyway," he said flatly. "What does it matter how I die?"

"We're not dead yet, though!" I felt my eyes fill with tears. "There's still hope, but not if you don't try! And this is not trying! This is giving up!"

"What can I do!?" he bellowed. "There's nothing can stop that beast now!"

"There's - Oh!" I couldn't believe I hadn't remembered before. "One second!"

I dashed off to the crew quarters where my bag was and started rifling through it. It had to be in here, it had to...

"Ha!" I yelled triumphantly, holding up my catch.

"What's a rock going to do to help us?" Archie asked scornfully. I hadn't noticed him following me.

"It's not a rock! It's the Red Orb! That old couple on Mt. Pyre gave it to me after you ran off with the Blue Orb. They said it was the only thing that might be able to calm Primal Kyogre!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" I turned to talk to him and held the Red Orb to my chest. "I'm not giving it to you, though. They entrusted me with it, so I'm going to be the one to use it."

"May. I'm not going to let you come with me. I don't need you throwing away your life to fix my mess. Red Orb or not, you could still die, and I don't want that to happen." He looked me in the eye again. "You're young. You have your whole life ahead of you. You don't need to throw it away like this."

I met his right back, unmoved. "I'm not throwing away my life. You'll be there to back me up, and I'll back you up, too. We can work as a team."

"No."

"Look. This is my fault, too. I didn't stop you, even though I could have. I could have told the authorities or someone about your plan instead of trying to stop you myself, like an idiot. My dad works for the League, for Arceus's sake. He would have investigated at least a little, if I had told him. But I didn't. So part of the blame for this falls on me, and I want to fix it."

Archie shook his head. "You tried your hardest. And no one would have believed you. Your dad wouldn't have found anything. None of this is your fault."

"But I'm going to help you fix it anyway. I'm supposed to be a hero. It's my job."

Archie was silent for a moment, then he shook his head. "Nothing I can say is going to persuade you, is it?"

"No."

"Fine, then. We'll work as a team."

"Good. Now teach me how to work the sub." I put the Red Orb back in my bag and tied the bag around my waist.

"Not tonight. You should get some rest. Pick a bunk, and I'll take whichever one you don't.

I considered protesting, but I was actually really tired, so I just agreed. "Okay."

* * *

A few hours of rest later, I headed into the control area to get those sub piloting lessons.

"Hey, scamp. Sleep well?"

"Pretty well. What's going on on the surface?"

"Still raining. We're heading out to Ever Grande right now, make sure there isn't anyone left there who can't get to higher ground. We don't have room for many people on the sub, but I've got some people's Pokemon who agreed to help fly people to safety. Thing is, this far out from high ground, it's dangerous to fly, so we'll take as many as we can and let the rest fly. I'm hopin' there aren't too many people left, though."

"Yeah. Well, I mean, isn't Ever Grande where the Pokemon League headquarters is? So you'd figure that most of the people there would have strong Pokemon to get them out of there."

"That's what I'm hoping."

Archie gave me a crash course on how to pilot the sub, and after he was done I took the depth controls. He seemed to prefer controlling our course anyway.

A few days later, we'd reached Ever Grande. I brought us up into the still torrential rain, and Archie headed out of the cockpit. I followed him to the exit airlock and watched as he climbed up the ladder and headed out of the hatch.

A moment later, he dropped back onto the ladder and shut the hatch. He slid down the ladder and headed back into the control room without a word, dropping heavily into his seat and burying his head in his hands.

"Bring us down," he said quietly. I did so, then turned to him.

"It was gone," he said. "There was nothing left of it. The whole island – gone beneath the waves."

"I bet everyone got off it, though," I said, trying to boost his spirits. "The people that gather at the Pokemon Leagues are no pushovers."

"Yeah. 'S true."

We were quiet for a moment. Then, in a tone more cheerful than I felt, I asked, "Well, where to now?"

"We should see how the people on the mountains are doing," he said. "But we'll head to Pacifidlog first, an' see if there's anyone still there. It's on our way anyway."

* * *

Pacifidlog Town was nothing but a mess of driftwood when we reached it. Archie and I stood on top of the submarine for a while, just staring at the wreckage.

I glanced over at Archie. His head was bowed, and I was sure that if the rain was any less intense, I'd be able to see tears streaming down his face.

Silently, I reached out and took his hand.

He clung to mine like a lifeline.

* * *

A week or so later, we reached Mount Pyre. Not much of it was still standing above sea level, but what was was crowded with life – people and tents covered every inch of available space, it seemed.

An Aqua member saluted us as we approached on top of Bruce.

"How many we got here?"

"Forty-six, myself included. The water level rises a couple inches or so a day – the whole mountain's gonna go under soon."

"How long?"

"Best guess? Maybe three weeks, tops."

Archie surveyed the place and nodded. "Get your people to pack up. I'm sending you to Mt. Chimney."

The Aqua member saluted, then turned to the others on the mountaintop.

"Get your stuff packed! We're headed for the mountains!"

Three or so hours later, as people streamed onto the sub and headed out via flying Pokémon, I frowned.

Archie caught my look. "What's wrong, scamp?"

"My mom's not here." I shrugged. "She's probably up on one of the other mountains."

"Probably."

* * *

Two weeks in a cramped sub later, we finally reached Mt. Chimney. I tried to catch a glimpse of my mom or dad as I helped people onto land, but neither of them made an appearance.

"Ready to head out, scamp?" Archie asked as the last of the people from the sub made it onto dry land.

"…Yeah. Guess so."

We headed back down to the cockpit, where we both sat in our respective seats. I took us down beneath the waves, but before we started moving, Archie turned to me.

"Ya didn't find your mom, did you?"

"No. Not my dad, either."

"Ah. They're probably on one of the other mountains, then. You wanna go check?"

I shrugged listlessly. "Not really. I'm sure they're safe."

Archie studied me for a moment, then nodded.

"We're headed to Dewford Town area," he said finally, turning back to the controls. "We're going to skim just under the surface, see if there's anyone who survived on the back of a Pokemon."

"Sounds good."

* * *

About a week later, I happened to glance at the sonar map as we were cruising. It showed something below, like…

Buildings?

There were five or six buildings all crowded together, one of them larger than the others. I recognized the layout of the town, but it took me a second to realize that it was Littleroot Town.

"Hang on! Stop the sub. I'm headed up."

"Whaddaya mean, headed up?"

I didn't answer, just brought us up to the surface and dashed out of the cockpit.

After almost a month on the sub, I knew where most everything was stored. I headed straight for the locker where the Aqua Suits were stored and threw on the smaller of the pair.

I pushed Archie out of the way and made my way to the hatch, ignoring his protests and questions. I scaled the ladder, opened the hatch, and dove into the roiling water, swimming down as hard as I could.

The water all around me was black, despite the light of the Aqua Suit's headlamp. I could no longer tell which was up, never mind if I was making any headway.

I kept swimming.

After a while, I felt a soft bump against my legs. I turned my head to see Rain, in a form I'd never seen before – her head almost looked like a submarine. She headbutted my legs again and moved into my chest. I threw my arms around her, and she started to move.

A little while later, we bumped into something – it looked like part of a building, revealed to be the lab as we swam around it.

Rain brought me over to my parents' house. The roof had caved in, but the walls were still standing. The door was hanging off its hinges, so I shoved it out of my way and poked my head in.

I nearly vomited right then and there. On the floor, huddled together, were two bloated, horrific bodies. Bodies I recognized.

My parents were dead.

Vaguely, I felt my arms wrap around Rain. Then, the lashing of the downpour.

A warm set of arms wrapped around me, and I came back to reality a little. My vision was filled with blue and white, and a deep rumbling voice filled my ears. _Dad_ …?

"…on, scamp. Can you hear me? Scamp? May?"

The sound of my name snapped my memories back into place. I pushed back from Archie and spewed my breakfast all over the floor, sinking to my knees and shuddering.

"Hey, it's okay. You're gonna be okay." Archie knelt down beside me and stroked my hair, wrapping his arms back around me as I turned into his chest. I grabbed desperately at his shoulders as sobs wracked my body.

"M-m-m-" I tried to speak through the blubbering, but Archie shushed me.

"You don't have ta tell me, May. Just let it out for now. Tell me later."

When my sobs finally died down and the shaking slowed, Archie spoke again. "Now. Do you wanna tell me what happened down there?"

"My parents," I mumbled through numb lips and a throat dry and rough from sobbing. "They… they didn't…"

"I get ya." He looked far away for a moment, then shook his head. "Right. Well, we should get ya to bed. Can ya stand?"

I shook my head, not trusting my body to move me anywhere at the moment.

Archie stood, then bent and picked me up, cradling me in his arms. He carried me to the crew quarters and put me down in my bunk, then turned to leave.

I reached out and caught his wrist without thinking.

"Stay. Please."

He took the pillow from his bunk and sat on the floor beside my bed.

"I'll be here. Get some rest."

* * *

I woke to find Archie's head sharing my pillow. The bandana had slipped from his head and his dark, shaggy hair was poking out, lending him an odd sense of vulnerability.

I leaned over and did something I'd been thinking of doing for weeks – I pressed my lips to his.

His lips were softer than I expected. I pressed closer, and he let out a soft sound, his eyes blearily opening to meet mine. Despite the confusion in his eyes, I didn't pull away. I just shut my eyes and parted my lips slightly against his, an invitation he took, reaching out and pulling me into his lap.

"May," he murmured, pulling back slightly to whisper across my lips. "Are you sure?"

I didn't hesitate. Seeing death so close… I could see what I wanted, with a clarity so sharp it almost hurt.

"Yes."

Archie groaned, pulling me harder against his chest. I could feel him getting hard under me, and I shifted my legs so they were wrapped around his waist. He groaned again, bucking up into me.

His hands moved to the hem of my shirt, tugging it upwards. We separated long enough for him to pull it over my head, then his mouth came back to mine like the tide, flowing forward, receding, then crashing back again.

Meanwhile, I wasn't idle. My hands made their way over his chest to the zipper of his wet suit, pulling it down to reveal his muscular body. I ran my hands over the planes of his chest, admiring the muscles and the way they tensed and relaxed as I moved my hands.

Archie stood us up and pulled off his wet suit and the boxers underneath, revealing his manhood standing tall. I followed suit, removing my shorts, and we stood for a moment, just watching each other.

We came back together, lips crashing against each other like waves on the rocks. Archie pinned me against the bunks, and I slid down onto my bunk, Archie following. I opened my legs and wrapped them around his hips, moaning at the feel of his length pressing against my entrance.

"May," he groaned, pressing his lips to my forehead. Then he slid into me, and I gasped at the glorious feeling of fullness.

We worked each other into a frenzy, hips moving in tandem and lips sliding against each other as he thrust and I bucked and –

We came together, gasping each other's names, lips open and pressed together, breathing the other in. I collapsed back against the thin mattress, and he propped himself up on his elbows so he didn't crush me, laying his head against my chest.

He mumbled something that I didn't quite hear.

"What?"

"I shouldn't have done that."

My blood ran cold. "What does that mean?"

He saw the look in my eyes. "I don't – it's not that I regret it. I just feel like I'm taking advantage of you."

"I want this."

"May, I'm a killer. I've killed a lot of people. And I messed up the whole world."

"I know. But I still want you."

He leaned up, meeting my eyes with a stern expression unlike any I'd seen him make. "Are you sure? May… I killed your parents. I killed Shelly. I doomed everyone in this region to death by drowning."

"I know! But you're trying to fix it! And I'm going to be right here beside you, trying to fix it too."

He looked me in the eyes for a few moments longer, searching. Whatever he found apparently defeated him, because he dropped his head back to my chest and let out a hollow chuckle.

"Whatever you wanna do. I can't stop you."

* * *

Dewford Town was in no better state than Ever Grande.

Archie punched the cockpit wall, then shook his hand out and slammed both onto the console beside the controls. "Dammit!"

"Everyone probably made it to the mountains," I said. "Brawly isn't the type to leave people behind."

"Hope so," Archie muttered.

* * *

Three days, we sat on the sub, defeated and adrift, while the water level rose around us. Three days we sat, talking and trying to come up with plans, and coming up with nothing.

I stared at the Red Orb. The omega symbol on it shone bright, probably thanks to the power of Primal Kyogre all around us. I tried to think of something, anything, that would let me use it to stop Kyogre, but came up with nothing.

Suddenly, a memory dawned on me. The legends had said there were two super-ancient Pokemon, Kyogre and Groudon. What if...

"What if we woke Groudon?"

"What?"

"There's supposed to be another super-ancient Pokemon," I explained, my voice rising with excitement. "The one of the sea, and the one of the land. Kyogre and Groudon. What if we woke up Groudon? Wouldn't he be able to stop Kyogre?"

"Yeah, maybe. But where are we gonna find Groudon?"

I faltered, glancing back at the Red Orb. "Well... you said you found Kyogre in a seafloor cavern, right? Well... what if Groudon is underground?"

"Underground... under Mt. Chimney!"

We looked at each other, and for the first time, I saw hope shining in Archie's eyes.

"We gotta get everyone off Mt. Chimney before we start drilling. I'll contact Matt, have him start moving people to the other mountains."

"Great. Then, we'll head for Mt. Chimney."

* * *

Five days later, everyone had been moved onto other mountains, and we had started drilling. Shortly into the side of the mountain, we hit open air – a cavern inside the mountain that soon filled up with water.

Archie and I donned our Aqua Suits and entered the cavern, the Red Orb safely held in the outer pouch of my suit. Inside, we found a sight to behold.

The water was evaporating.

A hulking Pokemon the size of a building stepped out of a pocket in one wall of the cavern. It roared upon seeing me, and the entire Red Orb glowed bright.

I held it up triumphantly. "Go! Groudon, go beat Kyogre and put an end to the rain!"

Groudon roared again, glowing bright. Veins, as if of lava, came into existence on their body, and they began to glow. When the glow subsided, they had grown by a lot, and the Red Orb was gone.

Primal Groudon roared again, stepping out of the cavern, and the clouds dispersed above where it stood. Harsh sunlight shot through the hole in the cloud layer, and all around Groudon steam rose, and earth raised itself from the water to meet their steps.

It was glorious.

Groudon began to move in the general direction of Sootopolis City. As it passed, Archie and I looked at each other, heading back for the sub, which stood in the still-deep water. We headed back in, and set a course to follow Groudon's steps.

Archie and I kissed in the bright sunlight, as the people on the top of the mountain who'd seen the spectacle started cheering.

* * *

All hell broke loose when Groudon reached Sootopolis City.

The titans of land and sea fought viciously, but neither could win out over the other. The destruction they caused was epic in proportion – earthquakes rocked the whole region, all the way out to the mountains, and multiple tidal waves threatened to wash away everything that stood on dry ground, the people on the mountains included.

Archie and I watched from the sub in despair.

"We've made an even worse mistake than before," I muttered, burying my face in my hands. "Everyone's going to die so much faster now – what are we going to do?"

Archie placed his hands on my shoulders to try to comfort me. Suddenly, he was thrown into the controls by a massive force – the sub was shifting, completely out of our control.

Archie glanced at the screen he'd been thrown into and swore loudly. "Buckle in – we're caught in a wave," he said grimly.

For the next – I don't know how long – the sub was tossed around in the wave like a rag doll by a child. After what felt like hours, the spinning and lurching finally stopped, after a crash that shook the sub. Alarms started screaming.

The hull was damaged.

I gathered up my stuff and donned my Aqua Suit as quickly as I could, running to the exit of the sub. It was listing hard, and it was difficult to make it up the ladder and out the hatch, but finally, Archie and I stood on a small land spire, watching as the sub sank to the bottom of the turbulent sea.

"What now?" I asked quietly.

Archie turned. The land we stood on was even and flat, with walls of stone jutting up on all sides of us. On the other side of the spire's top was a hole, which I dashed over to to find the structure below filled with water.

"I don't know," he said heavily. "I don't know. Our last hope failed. We failed."

I opened my mouth to say something – anything – but nothing came out. He was right.

"Nothing else to be done, then," I muttered. I climbed up on one of the lower walls, which faced towards Kyogre and Groudon. Form this distance, they were indistinguishable, but I could tell the flashes of light from Groudon's harsh sun from Kyogre's lightning bolts.

A puzzled look suddenly passed over my face. "Do you... Am I missing something?"

Archie looked confused for a minute, then something dawned on him. "There's no rain here. No sun, no earthquakes. It's like the weather..."

"...isn't hitting this spot," I finished for him. "But how...?"

In the sky, I spotted something moving. I looked up to see a hole appear in the clouds, and a Pokemon unlike any I'd ever seen appeared through it.

It was long and serpentine, with two arms that ended in wicked claws. It was bright green in colour, but as it came closer, I noticed yellow lines covering it, in patterns that reminded me of the patterns on Kyogre and Groudon's bodies.

"Rayquaza..." Archie said reverently. "I thought they were just a myth!"

Rayquaza came down and coiled itself in the air before us, letting out a sound that might have been its attempt at comfort. _Humans... You have released terrible forces from their slumbers,_ came a voice in my head that was not my own.

"Rayquaza..." I murmured in wonder. "We – yeah. We released Kyogre and Groudon."

Rayquaza – sighed? It sounded like a sigh. _Your intentions were noble, but your actions foolish._

"You're right," Archie agreed. "I fucked up. And now there's nothing we can do to stop them. Kyogre and Groudon are going to destroy this world... because of us."

Rayquaza's eyes sparkled. _This fight is not yet over. You have a Key Stone._

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Rayquaza looked directly at me. _Child, I see in you potential I have not seen in many years. Climb on my back, and take your mate's Key Stone._

Archie and I shared a glance. We shrugged, and he handed me over his anchor pendant, which I hung around my neck.

Rayquaza came towards me, and on instinct I reached out and touched their face. In my other hand, Archie's Key Stone began to glow.

Rayquaza let out a roar of triumph. _Climb on my back! We will fix this mess yet._

Archie and I climbed onto Rayquaza's back, and they turned and flew towards the fighting Pokemon in the distance. As we approached, I pressed my hand to the Key Stone and channeled everything I had – my desperation, my love of Pokemon and people, my grief for my parents and Shelly and everyone else lost –

With a roar, Rayquaza Mega Evolved. As we reached the place where Kyogre and Groudon fought, the great dragon ascended into the air, diving down at Groudon and Kyogre.

As we attacked, Kyogre and Groudon roared in pain and rage. A devastating Hyper Beam came from Groudon's mouth, aimed at Rayquaza, but we were moving so fast that it couldn't get a clear shot.

Instinctively, I knew what Rayquaza could do. We worked together, connected by the same bond I shared with each of my own Pokemon, and the bonds of Mega Evolution. "Rayquaza! Dragon Ascent!"

With a roar, Rayquaza flew upward, diving down once more to slash at Kyogre and Groudon. Around us, the rain slowed, and the sun shone less harshly. The earth ceased its shaking, and the waves calmed.

We were doing it!

"Rayquaza, one more hit! Draco Meteor!"

A chiming roar came from Rayquaza, and the sky above us turned a bright blue. Meteors rained down, propelled by a force unlike any I'd ever seen before, slamming Kyogre and Groudon backward and away from each other.

 _They will not return to their slumber! You must capture them!_

I reached into my bag under the Aqua Suit and pulled out the first pair of Poke balls I grabbed. Rayquaza made a pass over Kyogre and Groudon, and I dropped a ball on each of the great beasts.

With a bright red flash, they were gone. One Poke ball landed on the water, the other on the land, shaking so hard I was afraid they'd break.

But, slowly but surely, each Poke ball stopped shaking. They glowed red to signify a successful capture.

As the red glow receded, each ball began to glow green. The glow built until it was impossible to look at, then shot into the sky. The clouds immediately dispersed, and the harsh sun faded.

The world came back into balance in a rain of green.

* * *

After I retrieved the Poke balls containing the titans, Rayquaza flew us over to Mt. Chimney, where the whole region had gathered together.

As we stepped down, a figure emerged from the crowd. Steven!

Steven walked over to us with purpose in his steps. He faced Archie down.

"Archie Aogiri, you are under League arrest for ecoterrorism. Your trial will be held as soon as the waters covering Ever Grande city have receded, and the Pokemon League is able to gather to decide your fate."

Archie hung his head in defeat. I was blinded with anger. "What!? You can't do that! He just saved this whole region – the whole world! You can't arrest him!"

"His actions toward stopping the disaster will be taken into account at his trial, but my statement stands."

"But -"

"May," Archie said quietly.

I shut my mouth, tears stinging at my eyes. I nodded at Steven. "Fine. Just... give me a minute with him."

I didn't even wait for Steven to nod. I yanked off my Aqua Suit, as Archie pulled his off, and I flew at him and threw my arms around his shoulders.

"I love you," I whispered, the tears that had been threatening now boiling over. "I love you."

"May," he replied, and I pressed my lips to his, hard.

Suddenly, there were arms around me, pulling me away from him. I struggled against their grip, even as Steven clamped a set of handcuffs around Archie's wrists and led him away.

"Let go of me! Archie!"

He didn't look back at me.


	3. Chapter 3

I didn't attend Archie's trial.

As soon as the water had receded from most of the mainland, I was put in hospital in Rustboro City. They kept me in the psych ward – something about psychological trauma inflicted during my "captivity" on the sub. My psychiatrist was convinced I had Stockholm Syndrome, and recommended that I not be allowed to attend the trial or defend Archie.

I heard the trial's results from a somewhat sympathetic nurse. Archie had been sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole.

I spent my days being "treated" by that hack of a psychiatrist, and sitting on my bed staring at the wall. I wasn't allowed visitors, not even my Pokemon – due to my "fragile mental state" and newfound hero status, they didn't think it would be a good idea for me to be seen by the general public. I also wasn't allowed access to a TV, out of fear that the news coverage of the destruction and the rebuilding efforts would further damage my psyche.

So I stared at the wall as time passed.

After about three months, the psychiatrist finally figured out that I wasn't going to tell him anything more than what I'd told him on the first day about what had happened on the sub and the Aqua base, and allowed my release. I returned to the rebuilt Littleroot Town to a hero's welcome.

I didn't fit in there, could barely walk in the house without remembering the sight of my parents' bloated bodies on the floor, so I left two days later, walking south out of town into the woods that had mostly survived the flooding.

I wandered for two days, not eating or drinking anything, and finally arrived on the edge of a cliff looking off into the sea. I sat on the edge, looking down at the water and contemplating jumping off.

I closed my eyes and let my body sway with the wind for a while, enjoying the spray of the sea. When I opened my eyes, Rayquaza was before me.

 _Child, what are you thinking?_

"I was thinking of jumping." I glanced down at the water far below. "There's nothing for me here anymore. I can't... my parents are gone, and I'll never see Archie again... not much point in hanging around."

 _What of your_ _Pokemon_ _?_

"Someone will take care of them. Brendan, probably."

 _I see._ They snorted. _Humans. You're so willing to give up when things don't go your way._

A flicker of anger lit in my stomach. "What does that mean?"

 _You can see your mate again. There are options open to you. Just because things aren't going the way you want them to doesn't mean all hope should be lost._

"What options? He's in prison! They're sure as hell not going to let me visit him! He's the most hated man on the planet!"

 _You are correct in saying that you won't be able to visit him. But..._ Rayquaza came towards me, offering his back. _I can help you release him._

My mouth dropped open. "You'd... Why?"

 _You need him. He needs you. And... I'm rather fond of the two of you. You're the rare kind of humans that admit to their mistakes and fix them._

I stood. I was ready to leap onto Rayquaza's back... but I stopped.

"There has to be some other way to get him out. A legal way. I should... I don't want to spend the rest of my life on the run. I've gotta try this first."

Rayquaza snorted again. _As you wish. I will follow you – you've impressed me greatly, and I wish to travel with you._

"I'm honored." I turned back towards the trees, the wind pushing me forward. "Let's go."

* * *

I collected my Pokemon and my things from Littleroot in the middle of the night, not stopping to talk to anyone – not even Brendan, who was probably worried sick about me by now.

I felt a little guilty at that – and boy, it was nice to feel things again – but I decided to deal with Brendan later. He'd been smothering over the days I'd been in Littleroot, and getting shot of him kind of felt nice.

When I had all my stuff and looked like the hero I was being lauded as, I climbed onto Rayquaza's back, and we sped off towards Ever Grande. We touched down in front of the Pokemon League building, and I dashed inside.

"I need to see Steven Stone!" I yelled, waking the guards, who'd been dozing at their posts. They started, but upon seeing me, they saluted and let me pass. One pointed down a shadowed corridor to the left.

I ran through the League building offices, Rayquaza flying behind – miraculously, he fit through the admittedly-wide doors – until I reached a suite with a simple gold nameplate bearing Steven's name. I knocked hard on the doors until they opened, revealing Steven, looking like he'd just woken up but no less Champion-like for it.

"May. To what do I owe the -" He stopped and stared at Rayquaza, who was floating lesiurely behind me as though they hadn't a care in the world.

"I want you to let Archie out of prison."

"What?"

"I want Archie to be let out of prison. I want a retrial, something – it's not fair, because I wasn't there to defend him."

"May," Steven began gently, "the psychiatrist said you're suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Aogiri is a dangerous criminal, and -"

"And I wasn't being held captive!"

"You -"

"I was on that sub of my own free will! You saw me, on the mountaintop that day – if I was a captive, do you think he'd have let me out of the sub? No. I was in it with Archie as a partner."

"He sexually assaulted you."

"I started it. I – I wanted it. I love him, Steven. He's not a bad person. He did stupid things – we both did – but he fixed them. We fixed them."

"May -"

"I don't care if you have to throw us out of Hoenn! I just - it's not fair that he was imprisoned for a crime he fixed. That he made reparations for, by saving the world. It's not fair."

Steven studied me for a long time. Finally, he let out a sigh.

"I can arrange for your testimony to be heard. But it's up to my colleagues whether he should be released."

I bowed my head. "Thank you."

Steven stared at me for another long moment, then shook his head. "Don't thank me until I know whether or not to regret this."

And with that fateful statement, he shut his door, and I began the long walk out of the League, Rayquaza following behind.

* * *

Steven stared down at me from the judge's bench. "May Maple, you are called to provide your testimony to this court."

The courtroom was empty besides Steven and the four members of the Elite Four. Not even Archie was in attendance.

I stood and walked to the witness stand, glancing out the window, where my Pokemon and Rayquaza were looking in. Jace nodded at me.

I steeled myself and began.

During the telling of my story, I stared at the floor. I didn't have the courage to look at the jury, but I'm sure they were staring at me.

When I was done, the room was silent. Then, one of the jurors stood.

"We need time to deliberate on this."

Steven nodded. "This court will reconvene after however much time the jury feels is necessary to deliberate." He banged his gavel once, then left the stand.

* * *

Three days. It took three days for the jury to make a decision.

I was seated again at the witness stand as the jurors gave their decision.

"After hearing the testimony of May Maple, this court has changed its decision. Archibald Aogiri is innocent of the charges of rape and kidnapping. He is guilty of the crime of ecoterrorism."

"Very well," Steven said. "Two of the three charges against Archibald Aogiri are dropped. The remaining charge is still worthy of prison time; ten years, with the possibility of early release due to behaviour."

I wanted to collapse to the floor in relief. I kept hold of my dignity, however, and waited for the jurors to file out before I, too, stood to leave.

Steven came over to me before I left the witness stand. "As it stands, Aogiri isn't allowed visitors, but I think the Champion's backing should allow you in to see him… if you want to."

I looked into his eyes. Seeing that he was serious, I smiled.

"Of course!"

* * *

Steven brought me to the prison. I had to restrain myself from running ahead as the guards led me through the halls – if only so that I wouldn't get lost.

Finally, finally, we arrived at Archie's cell. The guards had told me he was in solitary confinement, not because he was breaking any rules, but for his own protection – the other prisoners had tried to attack him in the common areas.

The guard unlocked the door, and I pushed him out of the way and threw it open. It slammed against the wall with a clang I didn't hear.

He was there. Archie was there.

He turned at the noise of the door opening, and on seeing me, he froze. I didn't; I leapt for him, landing securely in his firm arms.

"May."

"Archie!"

I wasn't sure who started the kiss, but neither of us wanted to end it. Finally, we had to break away, gasping for air.

He stared at me, eyes wide, looking like a man dying of thirst happening upon an oasis. I pressed my forehead to his, drinking him in, his presence and being. Finally, I was back with him, and the world ceased crumbling under my feet.

"What... how are you in here?"

"Steven... I asked him for a retrial. He let me, and the jurors dropped some of your charges. You've only got ten years, with the possibility of early release."

He gaped. "How the hell did you persuade him? He hates me!"

I laughed. "So does the rest of the country. The media's gonna have a field day with this shit. But the presence of a Legendary Pokemon can help a lot with that."

"You let out -"

"No! No. Rayquaza said they want to travel with me."

He shook his head helplessly. "You are the most impossible person."

"I try, love. I try."

The guard cleared his throat. "Not that I'm not enjoying this reunion, but it's time to go."

I rolled my eyes and glanced back at Archie. "I'll see you again soon, love. And when you get let out of here, I'll be the first person you see."

Archie grinned. "I'll be lookin' forward to it." He pressed a kiss to my lips. "I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

True to my word, two years later, when Archie was released for good behaviour, I was waiting for him. As he stepped out of the prison, I ran and leapt into his arms again.

The next thing I did was release Rayquaza from their ball, and climb on their back, offering a hand up to Archie, who could only shake his head and laugh as he climbed up.

We sped off into the horizon, and up there, high above the world, everything felt right.


	4. Epilogue

"May!"

"Coming, love!"

I poured the last bucket of feed into the pond, then set the bucket aside and headed for the house.

As I walked, I considered the view. This pond, which housed a number of Magikarp, was situated right next to the ocean, offering an amazing view of the sparkling waves crashing against the short cliffs. At sunset, the ocean was magnificent. I didn't think I'd ever get tired of it.

About a minute later, I arrived back at the house. Archie called me again, probably not realizing I'd just walked in, so I headed into the main room where he was waiting.

"Right here, love." I spotted a pair of young girls, one platinum blonde and one dark-haired, who were looking at me with awe in their eyes.

Great. More Trainers here to try and see the legends.

I put on a smile and faced the girls. "Can I help you?"

"Yes. We, um… well…"

The dark-haired girl butted in. "We heard you have the best Wishiwashi this side of Alola! And we wanted to see them, if we could!"

I raised an eyebrow with a grin. "And?"

The blonde cocked her head. "And what?"

I studied them for a minute, then shook my head. "And nothing. Come on, I'll show you the Wishiwashi pond."

The girls and Archie followed me out the back door, along the path to the Wishiwashi pond. Oddly, the blonde kept casting nervous glances between Archie, me, and the big bag at her side.

The girls exclaimed over the Wishiwashi for a few minutes, and had a glance into the other nearby pools. The blonde didn't get any less nervous, so I decided to get whatever this was over with.

"So why did you really come here?"

To her credit, the dark-haired girl did a good impression of innocence. "We came to see the Wishiwashi."

I raised an eyebrow. "Then why does your friend look like she's going to jump out of her skin at the slightest noise?"

The girls looked like they'd been caught, but not like kids with their hands in the cookie jar; no, this was a more serious kind of catching. Like…

Like Archie when he'd been arrested by Steven.

"Did you break a law or something? Cause I'm not the right person to come to, in that case. Our living in this region is dependent on not breaking any laws , even minor ones."

"No! No, we didn't break any laws," the blonde burst out. "We… we were just hoping you'd know a bit about… about legendary Pokemon."

The girls spilled their story, which involved an illegal lab deep inside the Aether Foundation facility, an escape from said lab with a Pokemon, the strained evolution of said Pokemon, and its inability to move since.

Archie and I shared a look when they were done, and Archie headed back to the house. I looked at the girls with a serious eye. The blonde looked defeated, but the dark-haired girl looked determined – determined to keep this Pokemon safe, and to stop the apparent evils of the Aether Foundation.

She reminded me of me.

"Right." I clapped my hands together. "First things first. Can I see this Pokemon?"

The blonde reached into her bag and pulled out a tiny little Pokemon. It looked like an eye, with gold ridges around the 'pupil'.

I reached out my hands and took the Pokemon from her. It was heavier than it looked, and I couldn't help but wonder how she managed to carry it around all day in that bag.

I handed the Pokemon back – it didn't seem likely to do anything – and she put it back in the bag.

"So here's how this is going to work. I don't know anything about this Pokemon, but I know someone who probably does. Archie's just gone to –"

Just then, Archie returned and handed me Rayquaza's flute. "Thanks, love. Girls, I'll just… show you."

I put the flute to my lips and blew a short tune, calling out to Rayquaza with my mind. I felt them respond, speeding towards my location.

A moment later, they arrived in all their green scaly glory. The blonde girl looked like she was going to faint, but the dark-haired one looked awed and excited.

It was obvious who the Trainer was, of the two of them.

I turned to Rayquaza. "Thanks for coming so quickly. I half expected you were on the other side of the planet. Don't you usually hang out above Kanto this time of year?"

 _Normally. But these are not normal times. I've been waiting above Alola for the last few weeks. There's been something in the air here, a sense of foreboding._ They turned to the girls. _Show me Cosmoem._

Wordlessly, the blonde girl reached into her bag and pulled out the Pokemon. She held it up to Rayquaza, and they lowered their snout so they were eye to eye with the Pokemon – or would have been, had the Pokemon had obvious eyes.

After a moment, Rayquaza snorted. The blast of air nearly send the rather waifish blonde to the ground – although, that may have been her uncertainty in footing.

 _Cosmoem is a transitional state. It will awaken into its full potential soon._

I raised an eyebrow. "So what does that mean for the uninitiated?"

 _Cosmoem – or rather, its evolution – is the guardian of this region. It has been a long time since it was called to perform its duty, but it is nearly time._ Rayquaza glanced at the girls again. _These two will play a pivotal role in aiding Lunala in its duties._

I nearly groaned. Playing the hero was the last thing these girls needed. And helping the heroes was the last thing _I_ needed. But here I was, and there they were.

I sighed. "Thanks, Rayquaza."

They snorted again. I rolled my eyes and made a shooing motion at them.

I led the girls back to the house and sat them down at the kitchen table, spooning some stew out of my slow cooker into bowls for them. After I set the stew in front of them, I opened the window, and Rayquaza poked their head in.

"So," I said, sitting down with a bowl of stew of my own and pointing my spoon at the girls, "if you want to play the hero, you've gotta learn the rules. First off, don't awaken any Legendaries that you can't control or befriend…"

* * *

 _Three weeks later_

"May!"

"On my way, love!"

I set aside the Feebas feed bucket and headed for the house. When I arrived, Lillie and Moon were waiting for me with Archie. The two girls were holding hands, and Lillie looked totally different – not just in clothing and hairstyle, but the way she carried herself was far more confident.

Lillie grinned at me. "May! We did it! We stopped the Aether Foundation from opening any more Ultra Wormholes!"

I nodded. "I noticed there weren't any more weird holes in the sky. Well done." I focused on their clasped hands, a grin playing at my lips. "And I see you finally got together." I winked at Moon, who blushed bright red.

Lillie smiled at Moon, a gentle smile that I recognized as one that had crossed Archie's face when he looked at me. "Yes… riding to one's possible death tends to reshuffle one's priorities. I told Moon first."

"Good on you. Well, I've got some soup on. Take a seat and tell me all about it…"


End file.
